Summer Full of Strangers
by In-betweens
Summary: 3rd Story in The Alternate Stranger Series -Maggie and Frankie Cambias spend 3 weeks of their summer vacation with their Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Palmer while their parents tour Europe. While staying in Pine Valley they meet one Bianca Christine Montgomery
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Summer Full of Strangers  
**Author**: Megs  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own any characters from All My Children. I do however stake a claim to the story they are being borrowed to star in.  
**Rating**: PG-13  
******Author's Note**: This story is AU directly related to the plot of **The Stranger Series** where Maggie finds out that her biological father is in fact Alexander Cambias Sr. This is a story depicts what would have happened if Alexander went back and helped Gwen raise Frankie and Maggie. It is also the Third Story in **The (Alternate) Stranger Series**. You do not have to have read the first two stories in this series to understand what is going on in this story.**  
********Pairings**: Gwen/Alex, Vanessa Bennett/Palmer Courtland. **  
****Friendship**: Bianca/Maggie, Bianca/Frankie**  
****Plot**: Maggie and Frankie Cambias spend three weeks of their summer vacation with their Aunt Vanessa and their new Uncle, Palmer Cortlandt, while their parents tour Europe. While living in Cortlandt Manor they meet one Bianca Christine Montgomery.  
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**The (Alternate) Stranger Series**

"What if Gwen had contacted Alexander Cambias about her pregnancy with Maggie and Frankie and he returned to help raise them. What if when Alex returned to help Gwen raise Maggie and Frankie his relationship with Michael improved while his relationship with AJ, Alexander Junior (Zach) deteriorate. -_**Stranger Calling**_

When Alex returned and married Gwen what kind of relationship would Maggie and Frankie have with each other and their older half-brothers? When he went back to Gwen would Alex have given up his career to raise Maggie and Frankie with Gwen? Or would he have learned how to balance building a business empire while still being a loving father? What if Gwen and Alex relocate away from Green Bay. Would Maggie have ever met Billy Allan that day in the park? -_**Don't Talk To Strangers**_

If Alex returned and Gwen never started to drink or abuse Maggie and Frankie would Frankie ever travel to Pine Valley to con Erica? If Frankie didn't go to Pine Valley to help Vanessa con Erica and gotten in with her crazy aunt then Maggie never would have gone looking for answers in her murder and neither would have met Bianca Montgomery. Or would they? -_**Summer Full of Strangers**_

Would Michael still attack Erica, Kendall and rape Bianca or would he have never even followed in his father's footsteps because Alexander gave up his career aspirations to raise Maggie and Frankie with Gwen? If Michael didn't follow in his father's footsteps, and tried to destroy the Cambias name, would he have ever met Kendall and returned with her to Pine Valley? If Michael didn't meet Kendall and move to Pine Valley would he ever find his way to Pine Valley?

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**Part 1 of **

-**July 4, 1997**-  
-**Pine Valley**-

Spending the beginning of their summer vacation with their crazy Aunt Vanessa was not how Frankie or Maggie Cambias wanted to start their nine weeks off.

Who would?

There was a reason she was called their _crazy_ Aunt Vanessa. So, like any true blooded teenager they begged, pleaded and groveled to their parents to send them anywhere but to their mentally unstable aunt.

They had limited choices to put out for their parents consideration. Their eldest brother Alex hadn't spoken to them, ever, and their Uncle John Stiles was away on vacation with his own children. That left Michael. So, knowing that their parents trusted Michael to take care of them, they'd refused to let them disregard the fact that he'd take them. He had to.

Michael, to their parents, and Mikey or Mike to them and Michael Cambias, Vice President in Legal Counsel of Cambias Industries, to everyone else.

But that was beside the point.

Mike was thirteen years older than them and living with his girlfriend and was okay with them staying with him. He had even said he wouldn't mind looking after them…twice!

But no…

Their parents didn't want to trouble him. He is after all a very busy man.

But trouble?

The only one of them that would be trouble was Frankie.

Maggie wouldn't cause trouble.

She had too many things going on in her life to be grounded for acting out when all she really wanted to do this summer was swim and hang out with her friends. She had no friends by her Aunt Vanessa's. She had friends in New York, where she and her family lived, and she even had a few friends in Florida where Michael lived. While Frankie could make friends anywhere they went.

Frankie was not afraid to go up to a stranger, a cute stranger, and start up a conversation. Maggie on the other hand tended to stay away from people. She was just fine reading a good book out in the sun. She didn't need many friends, but having some friends in the area she would be staying would be nice.

Besides, Michael had lived with them for eight years. He knew how to undermine any of Frankie's schemes.

It wasn't hard, not really.

The only ones that seemed to have trouble with stopping her pranks were the teachers in their school.

The two Cambias twins were set on spending their vacation with Michael while their parents toured Europe. Without them. Now, had they been invited to go along with their parents or even believed for a second they could convince their parents to take them, they would have tried. Sadly, they knew there was not even an inkling of hope to convince their parents to bring them with them. This was, for all intents and purposes, their parents' only honeymoon.

So the sad fact of the matter was that they were going to have to spend three weeks with their crazy Aunt Vanessa instead of with Mike. At least if they spent the three weeks with Mike they knew they'd have fun and survive.

Michael lived in Miami, Florida.

Frankie could get into as much trouble as she wanted with Michael's supervision, and Maggie could spend as much time at the beach as she desired.

But no...

While their parents, Gwen and Alexander Cambias, toured Europe together for three weeks, they were stuck in bumblefuck Pennsylvania with their crazy Aunt Vanessa.

They both decided as the limo dropped them off in front of their new Uncle's manor—Uncle Palmer Cortlandt—that this summer was going to suck.

It wasn't even like they could hang out with their cousins!

David, Ben, and Leo were all almost fifteen years older than them. David was already a grown man with a flourishing career in medicine and Leo was now working for their new Uncle Palmer at his electronics company. Both men were too old and 'cool' to hang out with their fifteen year old cousins. Even if Frankie thought it would be cool to talk to David about all he did as a cardiologist and Maggie was fascinated to know more about Courtlandt Inc. from Leo.

Frankie, although the somewhat wild child of the family, was already showing a great interest in becoming a doctor or on the off days a lawyer like Mikey and her Uncle John. Maggie, well Maggie already had an aptitude for business that seemed to be a natural talent that Alexander Cambias was doing all he could to fortify.

"Well…at least the place is big." Frankie comments as she looks out the window of the limo that is parked outside the large mansion.

"Yeah, but how long is she going to be married to this one?"

Frankie thought about it, "Three years."

"You willing to put money on that estimate?" Maggie asks with a gleam in her eyes.

Frankie might be the trouble maker but Maggie was a gambler, plain and simple. She liked calculating the odds of winning or losing and more times than not she was correct with her guesses.

Her father wasn't a 'gambling' man but he did—on a whim—put money down on a horse race after Maggie had calculated the statistical outcome of the race proving that the third favorite was going to win the race.

Shockingly—or not as surprisingly shocking as Alexander Cambias would make it seem—Maggie had been correct. The money that Alexander had put down on the race would pay for Maggie's college education all the way through to her getting a graduate degree in the top Universities.

Since then though, Maggie hasn't been allowed to talk to her father about races. Her mother had found out—she always did—and her father had slept on the couch for nearly a week after the argument they had. It had been a stressful week. After it was over Alex told her in no uncertain terms that they couldn't talk about the races anymore. So they hadn't.

Now, Maggie didn't talk to him about the races anymore. She talked to him about the benefits or the cons of acquiring specific companies for Cambias.

It was a lot better than talking about the races because Maggie got to spend time with her father in his office in Manhattan. Maggie would leave school and travel to the business district of Manhattan while Frankie went to work at a local ice cream parlor a few blocks away from their school. Thankfully Gwen is still is under the assumption that Maggie is Alex's secretaries assistant not his statistical advisor.

Neither Maggie nor Alex has yet to tell her otherwise.

One day…though, one day Maggie wants to take over her father's business as CEO of Cambias Industries. Cambias Industries the top industrial company the world has ever seen.

Maggie knows that her father has done everything in his power to make sure that when the time comes she'll be ready to take over the reign of the company. Maggie can't wait.

"Hmm…" Frankie meets Maggie's gaze with a smirk. "I bet you a hundred dollars that Aunt Vanessa will divorce Uncle Palmer in three years."

Frankie knows her sister's aptitude for guessing certain things—her natural intuition—and her ability to calculate the statistics of any given event but what Maggie lacks is an understanding of people.

Numbers, numbers Maggie is wonderful with. People…well Maggie's a little shy and people challenged while Frankie excels with interacting with other people. It's why they balance each other out so perfectly.

"I take that bet and say that Uncle Palmer will divorce Aunt Vanessa in four years."

"Really!" Frankie asks surprised. "You think that _he'll_ divorce **her**?" That was a new one.

In all the marriages that their Aunt Vanessa has been in she has always been the one to petition for a divorce.

"Yep." Maggie seems sure of this and Frankie wonders if she should have bet against her sister.

The money…well their family has more money than god and Frankie can admit on a good day that she and Maggie have been spoiled. They have been. It's true, but their mother has always helped them understand how lucky they are. She's kept them level headed about their wealth and to be thankful for the privileges they have that others don't even while surrounded by the glamorous and fabulous.

They still have their own chores and have to earn their own money. Frankie has a job at an ice cream shop and Maggie works at Cambias. If they want to buy something they have to do so with their own money, the money they earned, or discuss with their parents taking the money from their trust funds.

If the twins had to pick which was easier, they'd have to go with earning their own money because convincing their parents to give them the money from their trust funds is harder than a days work.

"Well…we'll see." Frankie informs as she opens the limo door and smiles as she steps out into the heat.

"We will. Thanks, Jim." Maggie says to their driver with a bright smile. Jim has been their driver since they were nine. He's become like a part of the family.

"You're welcome, Ms. Cambias." He winks as he knows how Maggie hates him calling her that.

The sisters walk together up the walk to the front door and ring the doorbell.

Taking one look around the mansion and how dark the surrounding area was Maggie sighed. There wasn't a beach for miles. The only type of water that she'd be swimming in was a Lake. A Willow Lake that if she recalled correctly from the only Christmas she had spent with her Aunt Vanessa and her older cousins, was haunted by a monster that ate children.

It was, of course a myth, but Maggie still wouldn't step foot in the water. Not when the bottom of the Lake was slimy and covered in moss.

No thank you.

"This summer is going to suck." Maggie informs as she pulls on the strap of her backpack.

Frankie looks around the front yard and the stone wall with a smile. "I don't know about that…"

Maggie rolls her eyes. Of course Frankie wouldn't mind spending their vacation here. Frankie could find something to do anywhere. Frankie could make friends anywhere, even here. She'll be surrounded by people by the end of the week Maggie is sure, and she'll be left to hang around this dark and dreary manor by herself with her mentally imbalanced Aunt. It'll be great…Maggie rolls her eyes…for everyone but her.

Maggie just hopes that Frankie won't cause too much trouble with the locals. Frankie likes to cause trouble and she also likes garnering the attention of both boys and girls, so knowing her sister, there is going to be some trouble at some point in their stay.

They were going to be juniors this year and if they had any hope of convincing their parents to let them go on the school field trip during Spring break to the Bahamas with their friends and classmates they needed to behave while with their Aunt.

Even if she was a crazy old bat.

That means Frankie can't cause any trouble and that is going to be a hard thing for Frankie to do and an even harder event Maggie will have to stop.

"Just don't do anything to jeopardize our chances of going to the Bahamas. Okay!"

Frankie laughs as she looks at Maggie, her hands lightly pressed up against her chest in a simple 'who me' gesture.

Maggie rolls her eyes, "I mean it."

"Fine…fine. Ruin all my fun why don't you."

"Whatever…" Maggie turns to the door and internally sighs as her Aunt Vanessa makes a fuss about ushering them into the house.

Pine Valley, Pennsylvania.

To one Mary Margaret Cambias she might as well be in the middle of nowhere.

"Hi Aunt V…" Maggie greets with a fake smile, wouldn't her father be proud, and tries not to gag at the overpowering smell of her aunt's perfume.

When released from the woman's arms Maggie takes a deep breath of clean air, thankful that the mandatory greeting hug will only be followed by the mandatory goodbye hug at the end of their stay.

Maggie watches as her aunt hugs Frankie.

When the exuberant woman leads them into the forayer of the mansion, Frankie makes a gesture as if wiping the air clean of a bad smell. Their aunt is too engrossed with telling them all about what Mr. Cortlandt, her latest husband, did for a living to notice or pay attention to Maggie's covered snickering.

The twins did have to admit as they were shown around the mansion that it is a very nice home. The library is incredible! Maggie knows that now that she is here and there is not a beach in sight she will be spending a lot of time in the library reading whatever books she can get her hands on.

"And we have a pool…"

Maggie's ears and eyes perk up at her aunt's announcement. "Really?"

Vanessa laughs at the glee about her nieces' faces. "Yes, of course, darlings."

"Great! Where is it?" It was a good thing she had packed her bathing suit just in case. She'd have to call and thank Mike for bugging her to pack it even if she insisted she wasn't going to need it.

"It's just outside the patio doors in the back yard…" Vanessa points in the general direction and is surprised when both girls rush away. "Be careful…" Vanessa shouts out after their retreating backs before mumbling "…you little brats! Wouldn't want you to trip and hurt yourselves…" Vanessa grumbles under her breath before going to check on dinner.

The cook had better have gotten the recipe right this time.

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"So, girls…" Palmer tries for conversation.

The sound scraping of utensils against the glass plates and of ice clinking against the sides of the crystal set that surrounded the diners left a stifling tension hanging in the air.

"…what do you have planned for the tomorrow?" Palmer looks to his two new nieces with a small smile.

He can easily see how uncomfortable the two young women are. He also notices that they are both sitting up straight in their chairs slowly picking at their food. They've thanked each server that has brought them anything and even given each of them a smile as they walk away. The two seem to have been brought up to be very polite.

Something that honestly surprises him.

Vanessa has told him nothing of their manners and a great deal about how rude and strange they are.

Palmer had worried about taking on the responsibility of watching after his new brides two nieces. He had only met them at the wedding several months before. They had seemed like lovely young women but the stories that Vanessa shared with him left him fearful of their arrival. Vanessa assured him that she could handle them. That staying with them would do the two girls some good. That they could whip them into shape. Palmer did wonder what his wife expected him to do, surely she did not expect him to raise a hand to the two girls. He wouldn't dream of hitting a child, his or anyone else's.

So far, the two had been nothing but polite and well mannered. They had even tried to start conversation but stopped when Vanessa seemed unwilling to listen to their chatter about school. Palmer was almost appalled but he figured his wife had her reasons for silencing the two twins.

"Well, I was hoping that you could show me around your library." Palmer looks to…Margaret?...surprised.

Palmer takes a moment to try and assure himself that he has in fact correctly assumed the young woman looking at him with a hopeful gleam in her eyes is in fact Mary Margaret.

"I thought about lounging by the pool." Frances mentions.

Yes, yes it is Frances. Mary Frances has the streaks of blue in her hair while Mary Margaret has the darker dirty blonde locks that hand just below her shoulder while Frankie's rest just above her shoulders and is curled.

"That sounds like a lovely idea…" Vanessa informs from her seat as she smiles at her nieces.

Palmer nods his head, yes it seemed like a great idea for the two. He is curious however… "The library…I'm afraid is limited in its selection. I have many books about historical events and persons in history that might interest you however." He watches in fascination as Margaret's eyes widen and her smile brightens.

"Oh no, now you've done it." Palmer looks to Frances slightly confused by her sighed exclamation.

"That'd be wonderful. I just recently finished reading a book about the last three Pharaohs of Egypt."

"Have you?" Palmer smiles as he begins to realize he might have found a kindred spirit in Margaret.

"Yes, it was a wonderful read. Would you like to read it? I brought it with me."

"I'd love to take a look at it." Palmer informs and watches in awe as Margaret's smile brightens all the more.

"Our mother is a high school history teacher. Her love and fascination for history has rubbed off on me."

"Too much if you ask me." Frances comments around a forkful of rice.

"No one did ask you." Margaret bit out as she glares at her sister for a moment before turning to Palmer once again.

"You like to read medical texts, is that right, Frances?" Vanessa asks trying to stem off her nieces from getting into a fight in front of Palmer. It wouldn't do for the two girls to make her angry in front of her husband.

"Yes, she is. Do you have any?" Margaret asks as she looks at him.

"I think I have a few. They are rather obscure though…"

"That's alright!" Frances looks to him with a small smile her excitement plain. "I'd still like to take a look at them if you wouldn't mind."

Palmer shook his head, "No it is not a problem at all."

"Great." Both twins exclaim as they look to him and then turn back to their dinners the tension in the room thankfully absent as they all become silent once more.

Palmer smiles as he looks to his wife and her two nieces. He had nothing to worry about after all. The twins are nothing but polite and obviously very mature for their age. Palmer wonders for a moment why his wife would try to insinuate they were anything that they obviously are not.

Palmer shrugs it aside for now. He has a lovely meal to finish before he can take his two new nieces to his library and offer them the knowledge that the books upon the shelves contain.

Perhaps this summer won't be as much trouble as he feared it would after all.

**End Part One**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summer Full of Strangers  
****Disclaimer: **See Part 1

**Part 2 of 3 **

-**One Week Later**-

Frankie turns her head away from the bright rays of the sun thankful that she has on her sunglasses. She can see Maggie at the other end of the pool, her legs dangling in the water her nose in another book. Frankie wonders what Maggie can possibly find in those books she insists on reading. Most of them don't even have a plot interesting enough for Frankie to make it to the second chapter.

There is no intrigue.

There is no passion.

It is boring and bland to her but Maggie loves them.

Something about history just captures Maggie's attention just like it does their mother's.

Frankie doesn't understand it and she's stopped trying to.

Dipping her hand into the cool chlorine water she pushes herself towards Maggie's end of the pool before stopping and allowing her momentum to bring her to a slow stop, the top of her tube bumping into Maggie's calf.

Maggie only spares her a short glare over the top of her book before she puts her nose back into the book eagerly devouring the story held lightly in her grasp.

Frankie can't help but sigh as she settles herself more comfortably on the tube, her hand lazily drawing figure eights in the surface of the water. Delighting in watching the ripples travel outwards, Frankie just stares at them and the way the water captures the shine of the sun high above them.

"So, who said this summer was going to suck?"

Maggie can't help but laugh at her sister's comment.

Blocking the sun from her eyes she looks up from her book to see Frankie lounging in a blowup body tube an inch away from her. With a smirk Maggie uses her foot and pushes her sister out into the middle of the Olympic sized pool. Her blonde hair with blue highlights still damp and mussed from their swim.

Maggie winks at her glaring sister as she looks back from the center of the pool with a glare before making wide strokes to bring herself, still on the tube, back towards her.

"I admit…I was wrong. The last seven days have been incredible." Not to mention hysterical.

Maggie looks down at her own stomach and sighs. Maggie is wearing the bikini that Frankie insisted she buy. At least this way she can get a tan without lounging around in the nude like Frankie has already insisted on doing twice while here.

Poor Peter Cortlandt was scarred when he walked into his own backyard to find Frankie tanning naked in a recliner. The resulting reprimand hadn't deterred Frankie from doing it again the next day, only for Palmer to walk out and see it this time. Now that…Maggie thought as creepy and hilarious as the poor gentlemen covered his eyes as if they were burned and bumped into the patio doors several times before he succeeded in entering his own home again.

Pine Valley, Pennsylvania has thus far been nothing but kind to them.

Frankie snorts but then whips her head back to look at Maggie. "Can you say that again?"

"_Really_?" Maggie shakes her head. "You dope…" Maggie rolls her eyes and turns back to her book.

The sound of Frankie's laughter is the only noise in the area besides the lawn mower off in the distance and the chirping birds flying above them or the sound of Maggie turning a page in her book.

"What is it you're reading today?" Frankie asks as she notes the pile of books on the small round glass table closer to the patio doors.

"I'm reading _Applied Business Laws_ Volume One." Maggie answers, her eyes never leaving the pages before her.

_Ick…_Frankie scrunches up her face in distaste. "How can you possibly read that? Didn't you see the love stories collection our dear uncle Palmer has?" They looked enough to her that she'd already read one of them and was thinking about reading another.

"How can you read those books about open heart surgery?" Maggie counters, her eyes only looking above the top of the book for a moment.

"Because it's fascinating." Frankie exclaims in wonderment. How could anyone NOT be fascinated with opening up a person's chest and watching as the heart continued to beat in their nonexistent chest?

"Well, to me anything about business is fascinating."

Frankie has to concede that her sister has a point, and she hates that Maggie _always_ has a point. "What happened to that book about the last Russian Czars?" Frankie asks as she makes her way back towards Maggie.

"Finished it last night and found Uncle Palmer's section on business when I was putting it away…" Maggie's voice is far away and Frankie knows she's lost her sister's attention to the book she holds reverently in her hands.

An hour later, or what feels like an hour later to Frankie but is only a few minutes, she starts a conversation again. It's just too quiet and the sound of Maggie's constant flipping of pages is becoming irritating.

"Is it just me or is Aunt Vanessa a little more uptight than usual?"

Maggie lets the bound book rest on her chest as she looks down to Frankie, her twin looking up at her curiously.

"It's not just you." Maggie admits knowing that for some reason their aunt has been acting more odd than usual. And _that_ was saying something.

"You think she's fighting with Palmer?" Frankie's curiously about other people's business worries Maggie but she can't pretend that she hasn't wondered about why their aunt has been acting oddly.

"Shouldn't you be hoping that they are. You'd win the bet if they break up before my four years."

Frankie shrugs, "I'm just…I don't know. She's been giving me the creeps."

"You mean she hadn't before?" Maggie sarcastically asks, feigning shock.

"Oh hush…" Frankie splashes a handful of water at Maggie and smirks as Maggie shrieks and shields her book by turning her back on Frankie and letting the water hit her bare back.

Maggie looks over her shoulder, her hand gripping onto her book and holding it tightly against her chest as she waited to see if Frankie was going to splash her again. Seeing Frankie maneuvering herself and the tube so her feet are facing Maggie and she can kick water up at her, Maggie jumps up and rushes off towards the outdoor table. She reaches the glass table set covered by an umbrella just as Frankie kicks her legs like a motor, splashing large amounts of water out of the pool in Maggie's general direction.

"Brat!" Maggie calls out as she jumps back when Frankie tries to splash her again, grateful that she's too far away to actually get hit by the wayward water now.

"Chicken!" Frankie calls back before rolling off of the tube and swimming to the edge.

As she lifts herself out of the water Maggie looks around her surroundings and decides it would be better to run because Frankie is coming towards her with a gleam in her eyes. That gleam is the one Maggie has seen many times before.

It means trouble is about to be had.

Not wanting to find out what her sister has planned she abandons her book and rushes away from the stone area of the backyard and into the slick green grass of the grounds. Maggie grasps her flaying skirt with one hand as she rushes away from Frankie who is hot on her tail as she does.

Maggie looks over her shoulder for a moment and screams as Frankie starts to gain on her.

Unknowing to the two teenagers their Uncle and Aunt have moved out to the pool area, their guests following slowly behind them.

"Where are they?"

Palmer shrugs his shoulders as he looks at his wife and then over to his left where his dear friend is looking at him with a small smile. Her beautiful little girl standing at her side with a charmingly shy smile.

"I don't know my dear…"

Palmer looks out around the empty pool, the only evidence that the two Cambias children had been there being the blow up recliner floating out in the middle of the water, the skirt laying haphazardly over one of the metal recliners and a forgotten novel on the glass patio table.

"At least they're not naked."

Erica's eyes widen as she looks from Palmer to Vanessa. She wonders what Palmer sees in the evil woman—but is willing to play nice. At least for the afternoon. After all this isn't for her. This is for Bianca.

Travis had finally allowed her the time she had been begging for to see Bianca. Bianca is only with her for five weeks of the summer before she returns to Chicago to be with her father. So, hoping that she can help Bianca make friends—Travis informing her that Bianca has become very reserved and shy—she brought her here to Palmer's Manor after he informed her that his wife's nieces were spending three weeks with them while their parents traveled.

"Naked?" Bianca gasps as her eyes widen and she looks up at her mother with a fearful expression. She's not supposed to get naked too is she?

"It's alright dear…" Erica reassures as she glares at Palmer, he had said nothing about the two young women being trouble makers. This just won't do. "Perhaps we should come back at a better time." Meaning when the two young women are no longer present.

"No…no you should stay." Palmer says offering a small smile. "I'm sure the two would like to talk to someone besides us old folk."

"Speak for yourself…" Vanessa comments as she upturns her chin and looks out over the grounds, her ears just picking up sounds of her missing nieces.

"I can hear them…" Bianca comments as she looks in the direction she heard the scream. She swallows convulsively, her nerves starting to get the best of her as she stands beside her mother.

So much for being an independent teenager…she takes a hold of her mother's hand. But it's not her fault her father sent her here to Pine Valley to spend some of the summer with her mother the summer before high school. There were hardly any people here her age that her mother deem appropriate to be her friends.

Now that Adam Chandler does want her hanging out with AJ because of her mother's relationship with him. It seems they were back to hating each other.

Bianca just thought it sucked that the only kids her own age that her mother wanted her to associate with weren't allowed to associate with her because of her mother. It just isn't fair. She misses AJ and Jamie.

"There they are…" Bianca looks up at Mrs. Cortlandt's sighed announcement.

Where…?

Bianca looks around.

…There!

Across the open field are two blurs running around the grass. One chasing the other.

Bianca is shocked to feel her heart begin to race against her chest and her palms clam up as the two get close enough for her to make out what they look like. She sees a slim dirty blonde as tall as her running out from the trees that surround Cortlandt Manor and another slim dirty blonde with blue hair chasing after her. The one being chased keeps looking back at her pursuer as she holds onto her skirt wrap.

Bianca gasps as she watches the one with blue hair try and jump and tackle the dirty blonde but miss her and she lands in the grass and slides several feet gathering up a multitude of dirt and grass about her bare stomach.

The look of angry frustration that Bianca can see on the blue haired girls face leaves her hoping that the other girl can run fast enough to get away.

Maggie stops running when she sees Frankie land in the grass. It isn't until Frankie looks up at her, spitting out a glade or two of grass that Maggie shrieks and takes off back towards the pool. As Maggie gets closer she realizes that there are people standing at the patio entrance to the pool but for now she can't worry about that. Leaping over the small hedge of cut bushes Maggie slips slightly and has to catch herself.

"Be careful Margaret!"

Maggie looks up at her Aunt's scolding and stands up straight, her heart racing at her near face plant into the slick wet brick.

"Gotcha!"

Maggie turns just in time to see Frankie leaping over the same hedge of bushes.

With a gasp she can only step back towards the pool as Frankie comes towards her. This time Frankie's approaching her slowly with a darker gleam in her eyes than before.

"Now…Frankie…" Maggie looks over her shoulder to see how close to the edge of the pool she is. "…wait…" Maggie tries putting her hands out in front of her as if to calm or hold off her sister.

Bianca watches as Margaret—Mrs. Cortlandt called her Margaret—raises her hands up and she thinks that Margaret is trying to hold off her pursuer—who she realized is her twin sister—as she steps back slowly. Her steps bringing her towards the pool.

Bianca gasps and can't help but warn the girl as she realizes what—Frankie, Margaret had called her—is about to do.

"Watch out!" Bianca calls out just as Frankie rushes at Margaret. Frankie's arms outstretched to keep Margaret in her grasp no matter which way she jumps and pushes them both into the pool.

Maggie thinks she hears someone issuing her a warning just as Frankie's body connects with hers.

Kicking as she is pushed backwards into the pool, Maggie turns her head into Frankie's neck. Her eyes closed tightly as she grasps onto Frankie's shoulders tightly and takes her sister into the water with her.

Once under the water Maggie pulls and rolls Frankie around as they remain under the surface of the water. The clean blue of the water becoming brown around them as the dirt that had covered Frankie's stomach is washed away as they remain under the water.

The two sisters wrestle with each other, twisting and turning as they spin underneath the surface of the water.

Maggie loses her breath first.

She pushes up and gasps for air as she comes up from the water.

Bianca gasps and can't keep her eyes away from the sight of Margaret coming up from the water. The sun making the pool water shimmer as it falls away from her as she emerges from underneath the pool's surface. The sight is breathtaking and Bianca looks away when blue eyes open and look towards her after scanning the people on the patio.

Bianca feels her cheeks burn a bright red as she turns towards her mother.

Frankie pushes up from the water and immediately jumps on top of Maggie's shoulders and drags her sister back under the water, unconcerned with the crowd that has gathered at the opposite end of the pool.

Vanessa can only roll her eyes at the rambunctious teenagers. "My apologies…" Vanessa tries to apologize for the two but is stopped before she can truly begin her speech of blame placing it on their mother in their lack of sophistication and manners.

"Please, don't. They are teenagers…it is summer." Erica says with a smile as she looks out to the pool to see the two sisters emerge from the water laughing hysterically as they try and dunk the other one.

Bianca smiles up at her mother and looks up at her for permission. The two girls are far from naked and they are both having a lot of fun. Fun that Bianca is dying to participate in. So far her summer has been nothing but boring and the thought of actually meeting new friends makes her both excited and a little nervous.

With only a small nod of her head, Erica grants her daughter permission to join in the excitement.

Erica watches as Bianca's smile brightens and she moves tentatively towards the pool.

"Here…" Palmer steps forward with Bianca, going to lend the shy heiress a hand in introducing herself. "Girls…" Palmer calls out and can only smirk as the two laughing teenagers either ignore him or can't hear him over their bellowing laughter and groaning in their attempts to keep from being dunked under the water.

Palmer brings his fingers up to his lips and sticks two into his mouth and whistles loudly.

The two fighting siblings look up from where they are now treading water in the middle of the pool, both of them too short to be standing, and meet his eyes.

They look at each other before looking at him once again. It only takes a simple, 'come here' gesture for the two to swim towards him. Somehow the two decide silently that they need to race to him.

Maggie and Frankie look at each other before taking off. They swim as fast as their tired bodies can muster to their Uncle Palmer. Who they notice is standing with a young girl that looks to be about their age and their Aunt and some strange woman behind him.

"Ha!" Frankie cheers as her fingertips touch the wall of the pool first. "Beat you!"

Maggie, in retaliation for being teased for losing, swipes up a handful of water in the direction of Frankie's face.

"Girls…" Palmer's tone leaves the two no further room to begin another water fight.

They do however take the time to stick out their tongues at each other before turning to him.

Palmer notices that Frankie takes a great deal of time and care to look over the blushing Ms. Montgomery. Maggie on the other hand has only spared the girl a simple glance and smile before she's turned to him. Noticing that Frankie has yet to remove her gaze from the now fidgeting young woman, Palmer speaks to Maggie.

"Girls, this is the lovely Bianca Montgomery…." Bianca's blush deepens at the compliment. Her head bows in bashfulness. "Bianca this is Mary Margaret…" Palmer indicated Maggie with a gesture of his hand.

"Hi…" Maggie greets with a warm smile. "…and it's Maggie."

"Yes, and this is Mary Frances…" Palmer gestures to Frankie who is still riveted on the young woman beside him.

"Frankie..." Maggie hisses under her breath as she bumps her sister's shoulder.

"Oh…" Frankie shakes her head slightly and extends her soaked hand to Bianca. "I'm Frankie Cambias."

Bianca's eyes widen in shock at the name but she keeps her composure as she takes the offered hand before her, shivering at the chill that races through her at the slight chill of Frankie's hand due to the pool water.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Bianca Montgomery."

"Yes…so you are…" Frankie offers a charming grin to the blushing beauty before her.

Maggie rolls her eyes as she kicks Frankie under the water, giving her sister a warning look as she gestures towards their looming Aunt Vanessa. Their crazy and very religious Aunt Vanessa. She does not need to be informed about Frankie's admiration to both men and women's beauty.

"Cambias…?" Erica questions in mirrored shock as she looks to Vanessa.

"Yes, my sister's children." Vanessa sighs, how her sister Gwen snagged the prize bull without even trying still amazes her.

Sadly, Gwen is under the impression that she is in love.

Vanessa has hopes that soon enough her younger sister will realize her foolishness and divorce the man who has left himself wide open for her to take everything from him. Sadly, she has been waiting for Gwynne to make a move for fifteen years. Still she persists that she is in love with Alexander Cambias and that although he has faults, he too loves her.

Rubbish…but what can she do? Hmm…what can she do indeed...!

"Your sister?" Erica questions, her eyes narrowing. Another con artist she's sure. Except her sister must be very talent to capture the heart of Alexander Cambias Sr. one of Erica's role models and rivals.

"Yes, much younger. Fell in love as a girl got herself pregnant out of wedlock. He thankfully was a decent man and married her. Helped her raise the girls and she helped him raise his son. Dreadful man that boy of his."

"Oh…" Erica wonders if she should even bother listening to anything Vanessa has to say about her sister. Her word is not something Erica would ever use to swear by.

"Oh, nonsense." Palmer waves off his wife's words as he joins the two women back by the house. "Michael is a wonderful young man."

"Not that one," Vanessa waves off, "his eldest…"

"Ah, yes. Well, dear he is a very troubled young man. Hmm...he has surely become a very troubled man." Palmer recounts sadly and notices Erica's curiosity.

Sadly he knows very little more than what he has already said. His wife's words about her sister's life with Alexander very different from the stories the two young girls have told him about during their stay.

"Would you two like to have tea and coffee here on the patio or should we retire inside?" Palmer asks and watches as Erica looks out towards the pool.

Erica sees Bianca sitting on the edge of the pool with her feet dipped in the water talking amicably with one of the young women. She's not sure if it is Margaret or Frances.

"So…" Frankie nods her head down slowly trying to come up with something to talk about with the pretty girl before her. Her dark brown hair and deep brown eyes easily captured Frankie's attention instantly. Her flushed cheeks and bashful smile charmed her immediately. She had to get to know this girl. She had to. "…do you live here in Pine Valley?"

Frankie hears Maggie snort at her efforts to make small talk as she moves to swim away. It is a routine that they have decided on. If Frankie shows in obvious interest in someone Maggie will find somewhere else to be. Frankie never asked Maggie to do this, but is always grateful that her sister does not feel the need to subject herself to her flirtations. It would be awkward and uncomfortable if Maggie stuck around while she flirted with a pretty girl or cute guy.

It always steered the conversation towards what it was like being twins and after fifteen years of people asking her how that felt, Frankie was sick of answering it. What did it feel like to be a twin? It was annoying most of the time.

One because people always thought that made them different from them and they were always referred to as 'the twins' or 'girls'. They didn't have separate identities when the conversation was stirred on their identical DNA.

Two because no matter what Frankie was feeling Maggie could always tell just like she could always tell if Maggie was upset or happy or confused. They did share a connection but Frankie didn't like sharing that connection or the knowledge about it. It was something that was special, unique to only them, and no one else needed to know about that.

Bianca became curious. She watched as Maggie swam away and floated on her back at the farthest end of the pool, her eyes closed. Bianca felt the obvious rejection acutely. Obviously the other girl wasn't interested in talking to her. Bianca wondered why and then shook it off and turned her focus to Frankie, the girl that was actually trying to get to know her. While silently wondering what Maggie was thinking about.

"Not anymore. I live in Chicago with my father during the year. I'm here to spend the summer with my mother." Bianca jerks her head back towards where her mother is standing, her eyes sullen.

"Ah, your parents are divorced?" Frankie asks feeling a slight pang in her chest. She wouldn't know what she'd do if her parents ever got divorced. But that wasn't going to happen. They were too in love to get a divorce. Even if they did argue a lot. That is just something that they do because they are two different people and have different opinions on a lot of things. It doesn't mean they are going to get a divorce—no matter what her crazy Aunt Vanessa said.

"Yes…" Bianca admits sadly her chin resting against her chest again.

Frankie feels her heart pang at the sadness in Bianca's eyes. "Hey…" Frankie touches Bianca's knee drawing the girl's thoughts away from her parents' quarry and her eyes to her. "…none of that." Frankie reaches out and brushes away Bianca's only tear.

"I'm sorry…" Bianca whispers as she tries to look away, her heart hammering in her chest at the gentleness of Frankie's touch.

"Don't be. It has to be hard…I can't imagine my parents not being together. If you want to talk about it we can, I just…" Frankie feels a blush spring to her cheeks and wonders how the girl before her has so easily gotten under her skin, she never blushes.

"You what?" Bianca questions curiously.

"I don't want to see you cry. Your eyes are too pretty to have tears in them." Frankie whispers her cheeks inflaming all the more at the shocked expression upon Bianca's face.

Bianca feels her heart swell and a small smile spread across her face at the show of wariness.

"Erica…?" Palmer asks once again his eyes moving from Erica to where she is intently watching her daughter.

"Perhaps we can enjoy the afternoon sun later?" Erica says with a small smile. She is hesitant to leave Bianca alone but is very aware that she cannot smother her daughter. She needs to make friends without her around to hinder her.

"Ah, a very wise decision." Palmer offers his arm to Erica and his other to his wife. Smiling as the two women take their offered limb and he leads them into the house.

"Don't you wish to take your books inside Palmer?" Erica asks as she looks back over her shoulder to see a stack of books on Applied Business Law on the table. Erica knows how Palmer would hate for them to get wet.

Palmer smiles kindly at his friend, "I'm afraid that I am not reading those books, my dear. Maggie has asked if she could read them. I understand that she is only on volume one but I expect she shall finish the next two volumes in the next day."

Erica's eyes widen as she looks back towards the patio doors they are slowly walking away from. "My my…does she understand any of it?" Erica asks, wondering if the young girl comprehended anything she was reading from the volumes.

Palmer laughs lightly as he pulls out a chair for Erica and pats her hand before moving to pull out his wife's chair.

"She is a very intelligent young woman." Vanessa admits, sounding almost sour about this fact.

"She already shows a great deal of understanding for the running of a business. I wouldn't be surprised if Alexander was already grooming her to be his successor."

This, Erica finds, astounds her. "She is only fourteen…"

"Fifteen…" Vanessa corrects.

"Still…" Erica looks from Palmer to Vanessa in wonderment.

Palmer can only shrug, "Would you not be giving Bianca lessons on how to run Enchantment if you believed she would understand a word you were saying? Would I not be talking to Peter about the correct voltage power in a battery if I thought he could?"

Erica must concede that he has a point. If Bianca had showed an interest in learning how to run Enchantment she would have had her daughter in her office teaching her everything she knows instead of here at Cortlandt Manor.

"Let us forget about Alexander's protégé…" Palmer tries as he pours a cup of tea for his wife and guest. "…how are you and Bianca doing, my dear?"

Erica sighs and shakes her head as she retells her friend how difficult it has been to connect with her daughter as she has stayed with her.

**End Part Two**


	3. Chapter 3

****

**Summer Full of Strangers**

**Part 3 of 3**

-**Five Days Later**-

*Knock, Knock*

Maggie looks up from her book to the closed door. With a sigh she closes her book, _A Business Glossary_, marking her page, and moves to the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me."

_Me…_

Maggie rolls her eyes as she opens the door and sees her own face smiling at her. "Hello Me what can I do for you?

Frankie snickers and rolls her eyes at her sister's sense of humor. "You can get dressed."

Maggie looks down to see that she is in fact wearing clothing. "I am." Maggie looks up to see Frankie roll her eyes again.

"Not those clothes. Get dressed in something nicer."

Maggie scrunches her face in confusion as she remains where she is in the doorway leaning against the doorjamb. "Why…?"

"So you can go out with me and Bianca."

Maggie snorts out a laugh as she closes the door on her sister's face and walks away. There is no way she is going out with the two of them to listen to them whisper into each other's ear and smile at each other as they look deep into each other's eyes. No. That is not how she would like to spend her Friday night. Given that she would much rather be out with a friend or talking to her father or brother then sitting in her temporary bedroom reading.

Frankie groans and opens the door and follows Maggie into the room. Slamming the door behind her as she moves to stand in the middle of her sister's borrowed bedroom her arms crossing over her chest as she glares at her twin.

"What is your problem?" Frankie demands.

Maggie has hardly said a thing to her since the weekend when Bianca Montgomery and her mother Erica Kane showed up to spend the afternoon. Then again, every time that Bianca has arrived at the manor with her mother, Erica has spent a great deal of time talking to Maggie keeping her from the two of them. So, at first Frankie thought it was only Maggie being physically unable to tell Ms. Kane that she would rather be spending her time with her and Bianca. Then when Maggie stayed three rooms down from whatever room they were in without Erica present, Frankie began to realize that something else was going on.

"I don't have a problem." Maggie doesn't even look at her sister. She sits back up against the headboard of her bed and picks up her book, obviously dismissing her sister. This, arguing with her sister, is not how she wants to spend her Friday night either.

Maggie knows that something is happening with her and Frankie but she feels helpless to stop it. Maggie wonders if her fear of what is happening to her relationship with Frankie is mirrored in her twin and is why she is pushing so hard to include her in everything she does with Ms. Montgomery.

"Well bullshit, Maggie!" Frankie exclaims as she stamps her foot and her glare intensifies. "You have something shoved so far up your ass that it's poking out at your shoulders!"

Maggie rolls her eyes at her sister's exaggeration, her eyes scanning the page in front of her.

_**Acceleration Clause**: A condition in a real estate financing instrument giving the lender the power to declare all sums owing lender immediately due and payable upon the happening of an event, such as the sale of the property, or a delinquency in the repayment of the note._

"Can you at least look at me!" Frankie screeches as she feels her anger at her sister rise. "What is your problem! You've never been like this before!"

Never…and that scares Frankie more than her inability to easily read what is going on with her sister. She knows there is something major happening with Maggie but Maggie hasn't asked her for help or tried to talk to her about it. She's worried and when she's worried she's easy to anger. She knows this but her fear has been slowly rising each day her sister's refused to open up to her. Her!

Maggie continues to ignore her sister. Flipping randomly through the glossary and picking random words out from the page.

_**Cumulative Preferred Stock**:Preferred stock whose dividends accrue, should the issuer not make timely dividend payments.  
_

Frankie can't stand it. Maggie's never acted like a bitch before. Not to her! And certainly not about someone as nice as Bianca!

Hell, Maggie wasn't this much of a bitch to Robby Pelt, Frankie's last boyfriend.

Frankie just doesn't understand why Maggie has refused to partake in any of her outings with Bianca. Frankie knows it has something to do with Bianca, whatever is happening between them, but Frankie refuses to give up her sister or her new crush. She's just stuck between a rock and a hard place with Maggie's refusal to give Bianca a chance and Bianca's clear anxiousness over Maggie's attitude.

**_Deterministic Models:_**_ Liability-matching models that assume that the liability payments and the asset cash flows are known with certainty. Related: Compare stochastic models  
_  
Usually when Frankie asks Maggie to come with her to hang out she says yes, even if it is someone she has shown an interest in. So Maggie not coming along with her and Bianca to the park the other day and Willow Lake the day before shocked her.

Now this…

Maggie will hardly talk to her and she doesn't understand why. She doesn't know what she could have possibly done to warner such resentment from her sister or what Bianca could have done to push Maggie so far away she won't even talk to her.

_**Stochastic Models**: Liability-matching models that assume that the liability payments and the asset cash flows are uncertain._

"Maggie!" Frankie yells as Maggie continues to read her damn book.

_**Cumulative probability distribution:** A function that shows the probability that the random variable will attain a value less than or equal to each value that the ran-_

"Hey!" Maggie tries to grab the glossary back from Frankie but her sister has already thrown it halfway across the room.

"There…" Frankie refrains from smiling at the sound of the loud thud of the book slamming against the floor behind her. "Now talk to me!" Frankie demands her voice breaking as she holds her sister's eyes.

Maggie shakes her head and pushes back further against the headboard of her bed as she looks away from Frankie, her arms crossed over her chest now as well.

Frankie stands before Maggie's bed fuming. Her sister's head turned to look away from her.

"You know what, fine. _Whatever_!" Frankie throws her arms up in defeat. "Be that way! But don't you dare complain to me about how much it sucks that you don't have any friends!"

_'You won't even give her a chance.'_ Frankie thinks and then shakes her head dejectedly as she storms out of the room. _'All Bianca wants is to get to know you.'_

The fact that Bianca was clearly showing more an interest in Maggie bothered Frankie, but also left her with hope that if Maggie continued to act like the bitch Frankie never knew she could be, and then Bianca's interest could shift towards her.

Maggie waits until Frankie slams the door before she looks at the dark red wood. As if looking at the red oak could help her understand why she feels terribly uncertain around Bianca Montgomery.

It isn't as if she doesn't like the girl. She does. It is the fact that whenever she tries to talk to the younger girl she cannot voice anything. She opens her mouth but nothing comes out. Her throat closes and she has to turn away from Bianca and walk away. Upset with herself for being unable to participate in any type of conversation with the younger girl.

She is Mary Margaret Cambias!

For goodness sake!

She simply is not supposed to be tongue tied around a freshman! A female freshman! She is not Frankie. She does not go around looking for new friends or conquests.

She likes the friends she has but she isn't incapable of making new friends or making conversation! She can make new friends! She can…she knows she can but she doesn't just want to be Ms. Montgomery's friend and that terrifies her. She isn't Frankie. She doesn't go around looking to hit on women or date them.

At least, she hasn't.

Not yet.

Not until now.

Though the idea of flirting with Bianca, much like Frankie has been doing since they met the girl has crossed her mind a great deal.

It frightens her.

She has never liked another girl. Not like Frankie likes girls—sometimes.

Then again she doesn't flirt with men either. Not really.

She playfully flirts with her friend Anthony, but Anthony is not interested in her and she is not interested in him. They just…have that kind of relationship. Anthony and their flirting is beside the point.

The point is that she is more content to spend her Friday nights in long discussions with her father, Uncle John, or Mikey. Her contention with spending her Friday nights talking with her family does not mean that she does not occasionally enjoy going out to the movies or to a party with friends. She does, she just prefers not to partake in getting drunk or making out with any of the people at said parties either.

Maggie talks to people. She is a very articulate person. Her teachers commend her on her articulation. She is horrified with her incompetence when it comes to talking with Bianca Montgomery. It bothers her. Makes her frustrated and angry at herself! If Bianca mistakenly thinks that her anger is directed at her—for whatever reason—then that is for Bianca to know and Maggie to wonder about.

It is untrue in all senses.

Maggie is not angry with Bianca and she does not hate Bianca. Quite the contrary, she enjoys spending time with Bianca, or she had. Since she has still been unable to communicate with the young woman she has stayed away from her. Frankie has picked up on her emotions and she too has mistakenly interpreted them to be directed at Bianca. They are not.

Groaning Maggie throws herself onto the bed covering her head with her pillow as she curls her knees up into her stomach. She screams her frustration into her pillow her hands pounding away at the innocent mattress.

Maggie can't even escape from Bianca. Frankie has invited Bianca over to the Manor every day since they first met. The two are becoming very friendly with each other. Maggie is afraid to know exactly how friendly they have become. It isn't like she expects her sister to sleep with Bianca.

Frankie isn't like that.

Maggie also can tell that Bianca is certainly not like that. Not at all. The poor girl blushes a deep crimson red at the merest idea of innuendo.

Frankie is still a virgin! Maggie _knows_ this. Just like Frankie knows that there is something going on inside her head that has made her pull away. She also know that Frankie isn't afraid to test the waters. Maggie understands this. She has listened to Frankie's recounting—detailed—retellings of those experiments many times in the past.

The thought of Frankie telling her about how it feels to kiss Bianca makes her pause in her beating of her bed's mattress. Her heart skips a beat and her palms become sweaty as she feels her blood rush through her. She wonders why her stomach has twisted into so many knots and her chest is hot and heavy at the thought of Frankie kissing Bianca.

"Argh…" Maggie throws herself back down onto her mattress and this time hides her head in her pillows to drown out the sound of her own sobs.

Why…? Why was this happening to her?

What _is_ happening exactly!

And why…

Oh why…is she now unable to get rid of the image of Bianca Montgomery's lips moving towards her own—not Frankie's.

Maggie realizes that she was right in her first assessment of their three weeks here in bumbleF**k Pennsylvania.

It is going to suck.

It is going to suck because she is going to be subjected to seeing one Bianca Christine Montgomery. Both a pleasure and an annoyance as the wonderful caring girl will remain a stranger to one Mary Margaret Cambias.

Maggie moves over to her window at the sound of a beeping horn. Outside she can see the family limo pulling up. Frankie is rushing to it with a bright smile and an aura of happiness about her. Maggie wants to hate her sister for finding such happiness with Bianca while she can find nothing but frustration and sorrow over her lost chances to speak with the beauty that is Bianca Montgomery.

Maggie wants to be angry at Frankie as she hugs the younger girl, who is as tall as they are and promises to be taller in the future, tightly against her before she enters the limo first not sparing her window a single glance.

Maggie's breath catches in her throat when gorgeous soulful brown eyes look up towards her window. Maggie takes a step to back from the window sure that the girl has not seen her and if she did that she can no longer see her even as she looks out the window and watches as shoulders sag in a sigh.

Then the moment is gone and the honeysuckle eyes are riveted on something inside the limo and a bright aura surrounds her as she slips through the back door and Jim closes it. Leaving Maggie behind in her incompetence and cowardly glory.

Yes, Maggie decides as she watches the limo pull away. The next two weeks here is going to suck.

**THE END **


End file.
